Laura
by mikkiemakkie
Summary: What is Rigsby's past and will it ever come back to haunt him? This is rated "T" to be safe as some of the themes may become adult in later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

*I was reading some other fanfic stories and most of the ones concerning Rigsby were centred on his relationship with Van Pelt. So I thought I'd stray a little. I OWN NOTHING BUT THE MISTAKES*

Prologue

He was walking down the street towards his favourite LA restaurant. It was late but he didn't care. He had to see her. He couldn't come all this way and not. He smiled to himself as he thought _I hope I don't get in trouble for this…_ he had sneaked out of the hotel where he was staying trying to avoid his colleagues, who would no doubt, bombard him with questions about what he was up to. He reached the restaurant and leaned against a steer light outside. He waited.

About one am she came out of the front door, long blonde hair blowing in the breeze, eyes as blue as forget-me-nots sparkling in the yellow light cast over them. She showed every sign of not seeing him as she left work with two of her colleagues, so he threw caution to the wind.

"Bambi" he shouted

"Thumper?"

"Long time"

"Thanksgiving was only six months ago" she all but laughed.

"I know but I missed you" he replied pulling her into a bone crunching hug.

"No… you miss my cooking and being neurotically overprotective of me".

The man surveyed his younger sister with amusement.

"Am I that transparent?"

"You betcha"

She was always the incredibly bright one. She was only twenty years old and a sous chef at a top LA restaurant while attempting to graduate college. _She will go places_ he thought.

"So what you doing here in the middle of the night? Her voice pierced his thoughts.

"Here for work, thought I'd swing by".

"So not here to terrorize my boyfriend again?"

_Boyfriend?_ His senses heightened. His baby sister already has **another** boyfriend? He had only just got rid of the last good for nothing jerk she happened to be seeing. Suddenly he saw the grin spread wide on her face and playfully punched her in the shoulder, eventually realising that she was teasing him.

Neither of them realised they were being watched.

"Walk me home?"

"You really needed to ask that?"

"No. But I know it makes you feel like you are doing your job of being the overprotective big brother."

They reached the intersection and were waiting for the lights to change (it was a busy intersection where cars have been known to appear out of thin air).

Suddenly he felt a sharp blow to the back of his head. As he blacked out into nothingness he heard his sister screaming and trying to fight off their attacker beside him.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 1

It was breakfast time at the hotel. Cho, Lisbon and Jane were all sitting down to cereal, toast and juice.

"Where's Rigsby? He's usually he first one down for food in the morning" Jane commented noticing their large companion's absence.

"Probably spent last night with Van Pelt. You know the rules on _that_ don't you Jane?"

Jane chortled into his cereal. He was the one who suggested the rule. Their relationship had been common knowledge for months now, but Lisbon still couldn't justify them sharing a hotel room while on a case. However when the case was solved they may sleep where they want, seen as though they were, technically, no longer working.

Grace walked silently up to the table with her breakfast. The three people looked at her expecting her boyfriend to be right behind her. He was nowhere to be seen. They turned to her and looked at her as if she was a mutant.

"What?" she asked defensively

"Seen Rigsby?"

"No. I assumed he stayed in his own room last night."

"Why?"

"I saw him sneak out. He probably drank too much and didn't want to wake me."

"Better go wake him before breakfast is over"

"Grace can go" Jane interrupted. He was sure she would be able to rouse him without suffering mild violence. As much as he liked to eat, he also liked to sleep.

Grace unlocked the door. The first thing that hit her was the noise. Or the lack of it. He eyes quickly scanned the room and fell on the bed. She grabbed her phone and hit #1 on her speed dial.

"Boss. You better get up here" Van Pelt's voice quivered as she said those words. Her hands shook as she snapped her phone shut.

Lisbon came into the room to find Van Pelt staring at the crumpled t-shirt on the still made bed, looking as white as a sheet. Being the boss meant that she has a pretty good eye when something isn't right. And this wasn't. Rigsby was missing. Trying not to panic (he never went out without telling someone where he was going or when he'd be back – it's the way its done on a case out of Sacramento) she said in a calm reassuring voice:

"Has anyone tried calling him?"

They all tried. They got nothing. This time it was Lisbon who went white. Cho stood in the doorway, his usual stoic self. But in his eyes gleamed a hint of concern. Jane however did not notice this. He had taken it upon himself to nosey through Rigsby's possessions. He held up the crumpled t-shirt, front facing him. It said Stanford on it. He was confused. Rigsby was a UCLA guy.

"Where do we start to look for him?" Lisbon asked. It suddenly occurred to them all (with the exception of Van Pelt) that they barely know Rigsby. He was such a private person when he wanted to be and barely let anything slip to anyone about his personal life. Lisbon, Cho and Jane all turned to Van Pelt in unison. Sure she would have the answer.

"I think I remember telling me something about someone called Laura. She works at a restaurant here in La. I don't know which one, but I think it's by the beach."

Lisbon took command. They had to find Rigsby. If he was alive and well at this Laura's place then she would skin him alive for scaring her half to death. If not… she didn't want to think about the if not.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 2

Wayne Rigsby started coming round. He quickly discovered his head hurt and his arms and legs were tied to a chair. He felt a body stir behind him.

"Laura?" he croaked

"Wayne?"

"You ok?"

"I t-t-t-think so" she stammered.

"Don't worry Laura, we'll get out of this"

"How? In case _you_ hadn't noticed we are tied to a friggin chair!"

"There will be a way out. I promise"

At that moment their captor entered the room forcing the pair to release involuntary gasps of air.

"You?!" breathed Rigsby in exclaimation.

"Me" their captor replied with a smirk. He quickly made his way across the room, grabbed hold of Rigsby's hair and yanked his head back. "I've been waiting for this time to come" Their captor slowly, and methodically pulled a long thin knife out of his waistband, making sure that Wayne Rigsby could see every last inch of it. He held it to Rigsby's throat."I'm gonna enjoy this" he growled.

"You might enjoy slitting my throat, but how does it make you feel knowing that you had to knock me out with what? A 2x4? Baseball bat? And you had to tie me to a chair before you could even touch me" Rigsby's voice had a hint of confidence that he couldn't understand. Yet he knew he had said the right thing when his captor dropped the knife.

_SMACK_

Rigsby felt the blow to his face. Felt his cheek splitting and blood pouring down his face. He knew in that moment what he needed to do if either of them were to get out of this alive.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 3

"I hope it's this one" Van Pelt said after entering what felt like the 100th beachfront restaurant that day. The team approached the Maitre d'podium. Lisbon flashed her badge.

"We're looking for Laura" resigned to the fact that they had had no luck so far the Maitre d's answer surprised her.

"Laura isn't in. It's not like her. She usually calls if she's not coming in."

"Address?"

The Maitre d' got the address for Laura and they sped over there thanking the minimal flow of traffic.

They found nothing.

"What do we do now?" Van Pelt almost whispered, turning from white to green.

"We go back to that restaurant and talk to the people there" Lisbon replied taking command, while noting the look of concern and desperation on her youngest agents face.

"So when did you last see Laura?"

"Last night actually. We locked up together. Laura refused to leave. She wanted to mess around in the kitchen."

"So why did you stay?"

"I like Laura. She works hard, enjoys life and is a pleasure to be around. She is also young and I know what LA does to young women. I wanted to take her home. Make sure she was safe."

"And did you?"

"No. we started to leave and a guy called outta the shadows. I think he called her Bambi"

"What happened then?"

"She told us she'd be ok and to go home without her."

"Did you see this man?"

"Tall, dark. That's all I can tell you"

"Catch a name?"

"She called him Thumper, I think"

"Thumper?"

"Yeah"

It was the same from both of the people who were going to walk Laura home that night. They couldn't describe the man other than him being tall and dark. But they did hear him being called Thumper.

Lisbon and Cho walked back to the car where Jane was trying to calm Van Pelt down. They turned and looked in hope.

"All we got is that she left with a man she called Thumper, she knew him very well by the looks of it"

"Did they say what this man looked like?"

"Tall and dark"

"Wait… This is LA. There are cameras on every street corner" Jane blurted out completely changing the topic. The other simply stared at him. "If we can identify this Laura person then we can identify her companion. Then follow them using the cameras on every street."

Van Pelt looked as if she could kiss Jane. She immediately started making calls to acquire the tapes that she needed, finally grateful that she could do something to help find the person who could lead her to the love of her life.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 4

Wayne Rigsby knew if they had any chance of getting out of the mess they had found themselves in he was to keep talking and keep his captors attention on him.

"You do know that you kidnapped a state employee whilst they were on a case. That automatically gets you sent down for being an accomplice to the actual case we were working on." He knew he was rambling but he had to keep going. It was the only thing stopping they guy from killing him and his sister.

_SMACK_

He had been hit that often over the past 24 hours that he didn't even feel it.

"I will teach you to be a smart ass" his captor growled, leaving the room.

"Wayne"

"Yeah"

"He wants to kill us and you're just getting him more and more worked up to do it."

"Yeah but he hasn't laid a finger on you has he?"

"Not yet, but what happens when he beats you to death and starts on me. How long do you think he's gonna make it last with your wise man routine?"

"We are gonna get outta here before that happens"

"Really? How do you think that's gonna happen? We are both STILL tied to chairs and can't see a damn thing to try and undo the ropes"

"My team are the best there is. They will find us Laura. Have a little faith"

Laura Rigsby sincerely hoped that her brother's words were true. She didn't want him to die this way. She knew why he was being so insolent and she didn't want to live the rest of her life knowing that her brother died taking the beating that should have ended her instead.

Suddenly a soft yellow light filled the room. Their captor had returned. Wayne's jaw dropped to the floor as he saw what was being carried. Laura let out a scared gasp. It was a tyre iron. Before either one of them knew what was happening their captor had hit Laura in the side with the large iron bar and had untied Rigsby. He pulled Rigsby to his feet and dragging him out of the room, leaving Laura struggling to breath on the floor, her faith being tested more and more each second as fear that she would never see her big brother again invaded her head.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 5

"There they are" exclaimed Van Pelt

"I see them, but where do they head"

Van Pelt, Lisbon, Cho and Jane were watching video footage of Wayne and Laura Rigsby (although they didn't realise who she was). They saw the two meeting and move off. They saw their two victims head towards the busy intersection and wait for the lights. What they saw next made Van Pelt turn a sickly shade of green and rush to the restroom. Even Cho let out a gasp of surprise. They had seen a man (they assumed it was a man) hit Rigsby over the head with a baseball bat and before his companion could react their suspect had her in a vice hold, bundling her into a car. They then dragged the unconscious form of Rigsby into the back before speeding away.

Jane followed Van Pelt to the restroom to make sure she was ok. She opened the door to find Van Pelt crying. Van Pelt looked up to see Jane stood in the doorway, concern showing all over his face.

"This is the reason that office romances are banned right? Because it usually ends up with one person in the restroom crying?"

"Usually. But you have held yourself together pretty well so far, which leads me to assume there is something behind this reaction. Something personal. Something that you're scared of."

"I don't know what you mean"

"My dear Grace, you have hidden it well from everyone but you can't hide it from me."

"Hide what?"

"Grace. You are scared that Rigsby is cheating on you or is dead and you will be left alone with his child. Am I close?"

Before Van Pelt could respond to this alarming and brazen observation of Jane's the door opened and Lisbon walked in.

"Clean yourself up, we have a lead. The van used was stolen three days ago. Cho has managed to trace it to a warehouse by the pier. We're going in with SWAT."

How they managed to last the ride without panicking they will never know. They got to the warehouse and set up a perimeter. Once established SWAT entered the building, quickly followed by Lisbon, Cho and Van Pelt. Jane stayed in the car – too many guns for his liking. They cleared the ground level, finding Laura tied to a chair in a room with a deep gash to her side, but other than that she looked untouched. They saw no sign of Rigsby.

* * *

Van Pelt noticed a partially concealed door. Slowly and carefully she moved towards it and put her ear on it. She heard muffles. There was no time to call anyone back. She was going in.

She kicked the door which opened to reveal Rigsby laid on the floor and his captor stood over him with a tyre iron. The suspect turned and started moving towards Van Pelt who didn't hesitate pulling the trigger. Once, twice, three times she shot the suspect in the chest before dropping the gun and running to her bloodied, bruised and broken boyfriend. She lifted his chin and looked into his eyes, trying to ignore the blood covering his face. He looked back and tried to smile, but found it very difficult. His mouth had stopped working from all the beatings he had taken.

"Oh my god! What did he do to you?" Van Pelt whispered.

"M'ok" his reply came out more like a moan than actual words, but she understood. In one swift movement she helped him to his feet and supported most of his weight.

* * *

Lisbon had noticed Van Pelt had disappeared. Had she even come in? She had no time to ponder it however as three loud, heart stopping shots rang out. Panicking, wondering if allowing Van Pelt anywhere near this case had been a tragic misjudgement on her part, she started searching. Eventually Lisbon, closely followed by Cho saw Van Pelt holding up walking towards them with a weak and unstable Rigsby.

"Man, you look like hell"

"Cho – leave him alone. He's been through hell"

That's when Rigsby's knees caved on him and he hit the floor with a thump that nearly shook the ground. Lisbon was already calling the EMT's in to get him to a hospital.

Once the EMT's had taken Rigsby outside to the ambulance, he saw Laura being escorted into another. He really wanted to call out to her, tell her he was sorry and didn't want her to get hurt.

* * *

Whilst he was waiting for all the test results to come back, Rigsby was left alone in a hospital room. He was lost in his thoughts. Staring into space he barely registered a blonde haired woman stood in his line of sight. He did however register the punch to the shoulder.

"Hey"

"Hey. Did he hurt you?"

"Only broke a couple of ribs and gashed them up pretty bad. But I'm ok. What on earth made you talk to him like that?"

"It was the only way to keep him attention away from you. I couldn't bear to lose you after everything…"

"And how do you think I would have felt if I had lost you to a beating that should have killed me and not you? Do you think I would have been able to live knowing that I should be dead and you gave up your life protecting me?" Laura nearly screamed at her brother, tears welling up in her eyes. As one slid gracefully down her cheek he reached up to wipe it off. He didn't know what to say. His only intention had been to protect his sister. He hadn't thought of it from her point of view. He had been in her life for so long and she often joked that he was the only guy that she could trust, an act, in her opinion, was bordering suicidal.

"I wont do it again" he said without thinking. Laura smiled and moved his hand off her face. Here he was lying in a hospital bed telling her that the next time some crazed lunatic kidnapped them he would let her get beaten. She knew he was only trying to make her feel better.

"I have to go. LAPD want to ask me some questions"

Shortly after Laura left there was another knock on the door. This time he knew who it was.

"I knew you'd come for me"

"How could I not?"

"I just imagined that if you ever met my dad it would be under different circumstances" he said with a smile that quickly turned into a wince.

"Your… You… I shot your dad?"

"Yeah and I completely forgive you for it. If you hadn't he would have killed both me and Laura"

Just then the rest of the team bowled into the room. Lisbon looked happy about something.

"What?!?" Rigsby asked with a panic

"Minimal damage. Cracked ribs, major cuts and bruises. They just want to keep you here for a few more hours to check for internal bleeding."

"Yeah?" he asked, sure there was an ulterior motive hidden in the smiles. He was also sure Lisbon knew the identity of his kidnapper.

"Yeah. So, Rigsby. Tell us who the Stanford t-shirt belongs to" Jane questioned with a wink.

Everybody turned to Rigsby, who was turning the colour of Van Pelt's hair.

"Me" he muttered. This shocked everyone. They all thought he was a UCLA alum.

Confused and intrigued Jane pushed further "And why does Laura call you Thumper? And who is she to you?"

Aware that his entire, haunted past was about to come out he replied "She is my sister".


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 6

"I was nine years old when Laura was born. My family couldn't be happier. Until my mom got sick. Breast Cancer. She died when Laura was two."

"My dad blamed Laura. He thought that if she hadn't have been born they would have caught the lump earlier. He started hitting her. I couldn't stop him. I was only 11. As they years went by he kept hitting her. When I was 16 I got a job and vowed that when I was 18 I would move out and take Laura with me. I wouldn't go to college but get a job to support her.

"Why didn't you call child services?

"I was scared that they would split us up and I would never see her again. I worked my ass off at school and was awarded academic scholarships to loads of colleges. Stanford caught my attention. But I had promised myself I would look after Laura."

"So how did you get…?"

"Hush, let him finish"

"When I was two months away from my 18th birthday I went to pick Laura up from school. Only she wasn't there. My dad had picked her up. I raced home to find my dad beating her to within an inch of her life. I pulled him off her, nearly killed him and called an ambulance. Child services got involved and my dad went to jail."

"They split you up didn't they? Is that why you went to college?"

"No! They let us stay together. They told me to go to college, get a degree.I was a good student and a hard worker so they set us up in a nice apartment near the college of my choice. So I ended up at Stanford, the one and only college that had even tempted me to abandon my sister, on a history degree, with a minor in Russian" he added blushing slightly.

"I bet you did well in that" Cho interrupted sarcastically. Out of everyone on the team Rigsby was usually the slowest one on the uptake.

"I got a 4.0. Graduated top of my class"

Everybody's jaw hit the floor. Well everybody except Grace who had been told all of this before. They all knew Rigsby was a smart and talented arson investigator but had never known him to present intellectual smarts.

Rigsby, seeing their looks continued with his story "Knowing that I promised my sister a normal childhood forced me to study hard instead of the usual drinking activities associated with college. After college I moved around a bit because of work. I tried to make as few moves as possible so Laura could get settled into a school".

Turning to face Lisbon, sensing the level of betrayal she felt he added "everywhere I have worked since I left college was true. None of them really liked me. Said I was too smart for them, even though they always insisted that because I went to Stanford I had to be. They never really gave me a chance to be myself. That is why when I came to CBI I struck up a deal with Minnelli. He falsified the records he gave to you, which is the one Cho read. Everything about my family was true aswell. Just my personal background and education was altered. It was done to prevent people feeling pity for me and thinking that I was anything but a cop. Laura moved out three years ago when she turned 18. She has her own place here in LA and is at college."

"Wait… don't tell me… she is an average student doing music. She's on track for a 3.0. She works as a waitress so that she doesn't have to call home for money and have you worry about her"

"Wrong. Double major in Physics and Chemistry with a minor in Human Biology. Top of her class. And she's a sous chef, not a waitress and I think she actually makes more money than I do."

Stunned by this news, trying to process everything that had been said everyone sat in silence. Until Van Pelt realised there was something he had missed out. Something that caught their attention but had yet to be covered.

"So why Thumper?"

"It was the nickname that our fist set of neighbours gave me. They said Laura was like Bambi. Losing nearly everyone she had and finding herself alone. I was Thumper."

"The one who showed Bambi the way" Finished Jane smiling.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 7

Once the doctor had released Rigsby, satisfied that he wasn't bleeding internally and giving him very strict instructions not to do anything physical for three weeks (everybody turned to look at Van Pelt) they all went back to the hotel.

They went back to Van Pelts room and she ran him a bath. He was still covered in blood and dirt from the warehouse.

She pulled him off the bed where he was sat, showing every intention of curling up and going to sleep. Slowly and carefully she kissed him. Her lips had distracted him from her hands unbuttoning his shirt and trousers.

"Grace, what are you doing?" he moaned

"Undressing you so that you can get into the bath" she replied with a sultry smile as she pulled his trousers and boxers off.

When he was stood naked in front of her she took his hand again and pulled him into the bathroom and ushered him into the bath. Then she stripped and got in behind him. Slowly she washed him with her hands (she used no soap as she had forgotten hers and the hotel's seemed to have some kind of alcohol in). He winced when she reached his cuts and bruises and when she reached his ribs she lightly trailed her fingers along each and every broken one. He barely felt it. All of the aches and pains associated with getting beaten up with a tyre iron had hit him as hard as they had done all day. The hot water making his body scream in protest before starting to soothe them away. He was almost asleep. He was brought out of his dosing when he felt Van Pelt's fingers pause. He turned his head to look into her face. He saw she was crying.

"I'm so sorry" She sobbed

"Don't be. You did what you had to do. He was a suspect about to cleave your skull in to pieces with a tyre iron. You had no choice."

"I did. I could have shot him in the shoulder or something"

"Your instincts took over"

"No. My maternal, hormones took over. I shot the man who was threatening to take my baby's father away from me."

He smiled as he remembered the night she told him he was going to be a dad.

"And now we can both live in the sanctuary of knowing he can't come after us again."

He shuffled in the bath and before she knew it she was lying on top of Rigsby who had pulled her into a deep sensuous kiss. It was as if nothing had happened in the last two days.

"Hey Grace?" he broke their kiss and she rested her head on his wet chest listening to his unusually fast and slightly erratic heart rate.

"Mmmmmm"

"We better get out of this tub. The water has gone sooo cold. I can't feel my hands"

Van Pelt giggled into his chest.

"That could be because I'm laid on them" she replied. But taking the hint that they ought to get out of the bath and go to bed, she slowly helped the large man out of the bath. They got dried (well Van Pelt dried him while letting herself air dry) and got into bed. He was falling into a deep, restful, peaceful sleep as she whispered softly:

"I love you, Thumper"

The End

This is my first Fanfic story. Please let me know what you think… I hope you liked it.


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